A Certain Scientific Kugelblitz (Rewrite)
by Panzer4life
Summary: Uiharu is a Level 1 esper who despite all her efforts can't ascend to greatness. But that changes when a certain character enters her life, changing her life forever. Will she be able to handle the power she is given, or will it corrupt her? Follow her as she and many others are affected by this chance encounter. Rated T for language, violence, and light-limes.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Ah, rewrites; aren't they such a joy to do? Anyway, for now, just the obligatory warning; I don't own 'Toaru Majutsu no Index'. Anyway, onto the revised story!

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Rough Day**

 **Aki Arc**

* * *

"Argh, why can't I improve?" lamented a black hair girl with a flowery hairband wearing a Sakugawa Middle School uniform. She was sitting on a bench just outside of said middle school, whilst the late winter sun beating down on the back of her neck in spite of the cold nip of the air. But she didn't care about the sun or the cold air; no, she was annoyed with the blasted sheet of paper in front of her.

Like many in Academy City, the black hair girl was a student that was attending several of the various schools to become a high-level esper. Being an esper to many was akin to being super human; being able to contort the world to your own will was the goal. They were ranked from Level 0 to Level 5, with 0 being basically a normal person and a 5 being a one man army. Sadly for her, she was, despite her effort, still listed as a Level 1 'Thermal Hands' esper, which meant that her ability made her perfect for acting like a human thermos.

"This sucks," the girl continued to curse her lack of progress. "I can't do anything other than keep things warm or cold in my hands, which doesn't do me any good when I am in the field."

She was about to continue, ranting about how she wasn't anything like her Judgment partner, a Level 4 teleporter, when she felt her skirt lifted from behind.

"Oh, today it appears to be white panties!" announced a girl that was taller than her to the world.

"Saten, why must you flip my skirt?!" the girl demanded, getting up and pulling her skirt down to prevent anyone else from seeing her choice in panties.

"Ara, ara," Saten Rikou tried to placate her friend. "Uiharu, it's our thing you know; you get lost in your world, and I bring you back to reality by flipping your skirt! You would be lost in fantasy without my assistance!"

Uiharu Kazari glared at her best friend, puffing her cheeks in anger. She couldn't count all of the times Saten had flipped her skirt, but despite all the times she never not gotten embarrassed by it.

"It is certainly not our thing!" scolded Uiharu. "Don't you realize how embarrassing it is for me to have anyone passing by and see under my skirt due to you flipping them?" Saten paused, before relenting.

"Ah fine, I won't flip your skirt so often," Saten replied, ignoring the angering look on Uiharu's face. "Oh guess what happened today?" Uiharu sighed.

"I didn't level up and I got my skirt flipped by you," Uiharu replied mournfully. Saten again paused, before shaking her heads.

"Well, beside that, I am now a Level 1 esper!" Saten replied happily. "It is so nice to see that everything that has happened finally is paying off!" While Saten was beaming, Uiharu was mentally crying.

" _Great, Saten has finally leveled up, not that I should be upset with her, but I couldn't improve myself,"_ Uiharu thought to herself. _"Ever since I first took the PCP, I haven't leveled up. Will I always remain a pathetic level 1?"_ Shaking herself from her mental self-berating, she smiled at Saten.

"That's good to hear," Uiharu praised her friend. "At least you leveled up without help from the Level-Upper."

"Ehehe, right," Saten said uncomfortable. "I rather not be reminded of when I was in a coma due to my stupidity."

Uiharu nodded quietly. The Level-Upper incident was an all-round terrible situation for everyone involved. Those that used the Level-Upper ended up going into a coma, several people were badly injured as a result of those users abusing their new found powers, and finally Anti-Skill and Judgment had a field day getting the users to the hospital and dealing with the AIM burst. Overall, a lot of chaos with little to show for it, except that it led to the incident with Kihara Therestina Lifeline, which was another disaster.

"Well, how about you?" Saten said. "You've been a Level 1 for a while now, so perhaps you leveled up as well?"

"Sadly no," Uiharu replied. "Still a Level 1, still getting nowhere with my ability." She frowned, causing Saten to hug her friend.

"It's okay," Saten calmly said. "You'll get there eventually, just give it time, maybe find someone to help you, and perhaps you'll level up."

Uiharu smiled, if only to appease her friend. Inside however, Uiharu wanted to bemoan her fate. Due to her ability's rather plain ability, low level, and oddly enough rareness, even if she could afford a personal trainer, like a great deal of students in the higher end schools did, she couldn't find one. Also, Judgment didn't allow for any training outside of how to deal with suspects and following the code of conduct set forth by Judgment, so she couldn't even go to her colleagues for help training.

" _Why can't I find anyone to help me out?"_ Uiharu mentally groaned. _"It isn't fair that my ability isn't flashy like Level 3 electromasters, teleporters, or even psychics, and thus I can't find any trainers. I can't help any of my friends in the field with my weak powers, only provide support through the headset."_

"Hey, Uiharu, how about we go to your station and see if Kuroko and Misaka are in the office, perhaps they will have some suggestions on how to improve your ability?" Saten suggested. Uiharu pondered for a moment; if anyone knew how to Level up, it would be those two, considering they were Level 4 and 5 respectively.

"Okay, sure, just let me put away this," Uiharu said, folding up the results of her SYSTEM scan before sliding it into her pocket. She prayed that her friends might have a solution for her.

* * *

"Eh heh, well, not to bring you down, but I don't think I would be suitable to helping you out with your ability, sorry," replied a girl with brown hair and eyes. She was wearing the brown vest and plaid skirt of the Tokiwodai winter uniform.

"Ah, but Onee-sama, you are the perfect person to help her!" spoke a girl with auburn hair and twin pony tails. "You went from Level 1 to 5, so you are more than adequate to train Uiharu! Besides, I think that you would look good in a-"

The auburn hair girl would've continued on a tangent, going on how some perverted delusion had it not been for the brown hair girl promptly sending a bolt of lighting at her.

"Kuroko! Get your head out of the gutter; I'm not interested!"

Uiharu sighed; _"Those two are at it again. I wish Misaka would get with someone, anyone, if only to end this tirade."_

In front of her were Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko, two of her friends and both very powerful espers. Kuroko was a Judgment agent just like Uiharu, though unlike Uiharu she was a very capable Level 4 teleporter, being able to apprehend suspects with her unique ability and fighting style. Misaka meanwhile was the Level 5 'Railgun', the number 3 most powerful esper in Academy City. She routinely manages to help out with major cases and is capable of controlling electricity unlike any other esper, earning her the nickname 'the electric princess'.

So after getting to the 177th Judgment branch office and allowing Saten to bask in glory at her new found power (Level 1 Aero Hand), Uiharu explained her situation and asked if either of them could help. Unfortunately, it seemed that Misaka couldn't help, and Kuroko tried to be a pervert, again.

"But seriously, back to your inquiry, I wouldn't be able to help," Misaka said, turning her attention back to Uiharu, ignoring the charred and limp body of Kuroko. "I'm an electromaster, and I have no experience with what I guess would be thermal manipulations. I don't know the models and theories behind it, so anything I say will be pointless. I guess it could be compared to going to a computer engineer to ask for help fixing a car; it be a waste of everyone times."

"If you want to improve your ability and thus your level Uiharu, you will need to find someone who has a ability similar to yours or knows the mathematical models of your ability," Misaka continued, drumming the couch arm passively. "I know it sucks to hear I can't help, but I mean, I rather you get help from someone who knows what they are doing rather than getting inaccurate information from me and end up hurting yourself."

"But isn't there something she can do that doesn't involved find someone with a near identical ability as hers?" Saten asked. "I mean, I had issues because I didn't have anything to base my ability off of. With that barrier out of the way and knowing what I have, I can at least build off it. So right now I think she needs to grow her ability, so are they any techniques that she can do to increase her power?"

Uiharu saw Misaka tapping her chin, trying to think. She began to build her hopes up, only to have them crash down with what Misaka had to say next.

"Um, not really," Misaka replied. "I mean, most of the techniques they teach in middle school are what I would suggest, so if they aren't working, I'm afraid I don't have any other suggestion. There are those that insist that working your mind and body will improve your ability, but I know of some espers that have a lot of power despite being out of shape and I know of espers who are in perfect health with little ability power, so that isn't true. Your best bet is to find someone who can train you. Perhaps you can find a specialist in thermal manipulation."

"I've tried," Uiharu stated calmly. "However, most won't see me as they mostly deal with pyrokinetics and thus when they see my ability and level they tend to dismiss me right out of the gate. And I don't know anyone in Sakugawa Middle school that has an ability similar to mine."

Uiharu sighed, leaning in her chair. _"This freaking blows, I just want more power to protect my friends, is that too much to ask for?"_ She was roused when the office door open.

"Hello Uiharu and Kuroko," said the voice of the well-endowed station's chief of the 177th branch, Konori Mii. The black hair Level 3 clairvoyant wore a frame of glasses, sweeping her gaze upon the office. "Oh, hello Saten and Misaka, I didn't know you two were here as well. So, what are the four of you up to?"

"Not much, other than dashing my dreams of being useful to this office outside of being behind the computer," Uiharu muttered. "I was asking Misaka and Kuroko how to improve my level, only to hit the brick wall that is reality. Life's so unfair."

Konori frowned, taking a seat at her desk.

"Well, don't feel too bad," Konori replied. "I struggled with my ability, mainly because my ability is rather rare. But I managed once I studied up on it and gained a reason to level up." She was about to continue when her phone went off. "Hold on a sec, let me answer this phone call and then we will figure out how to help you out Uiharu."

While Konori was answering her call, Uiharu mentally cursed her luck and bemoaned her luck. She couldn't believe that Misaka, a Level 5 and the third most powerful of the city, couldn't help her out! If there was anyone that could help her out, she was certain it was her! But it seemed like…

"Uiharu, Kuroko, we have an emergency in District 17," Konori spoke up, interrupting Uiharu's thought. "Skill-Out is rioting for unknown reasons, but it appeared several groups are firebombing several buildings and have attacked a couple of lone Judgement and Anti-Skill officers already. We've been called in to assist in the containment of the situation."

Misaka was about to stand up, but Konori laid a hand on her shoulder.

"No Misaka; I know you want to help, but this is strictly a Judgement and Anti-Skill operation. The higher ups don't want rumors of the riots to spread, as it might cause similar situations in the other districts. Your involvement would reveal the riots, and thus until the situation is contained, you can't, I repeat, can't help, alright?"

"Eh fine, but seriously, the riots would be over with me helping you guys," Misaka pouted. "But fine, I understand. Though if you guys need my help, don't-"

"Yes Onee-sama, but we can handle ourselves," Kuroko said, standing up proudly. "I will return to you in one piece; perhaps we can-"

"No Kuroko, get whatever perverted thoughts you have out of your head now!" Misaka all but shouted.

In the midst of this, Uiharu sighed; yet another assignment where her computer hacking skills would be for naught and yet she would be getting in harm's way. Seriously, was there no way for her to be any way useful in the field or able to protect her friends?

* * *

"Oh no, this isn't good!" Uiharu cried, scrambling up the stairs, trying to evade her pursuers. She knew she shouldn't have pushed forward without Kuroko's supports, but someone needed to act. But what she should've and what she did were two different things.

About ten minutes ago, Uiharu, Kuroko, and Konori had arrived in District 17. The riots had blown up into what could be best described as a small insurgency uprising. No longer were Skill-Out content with small fire bombings and beating up officials, no, now they were actively hunting and trying to kill espers with the few smuggled fire arms they had procured though underground means along with using homemade bombs that were akin to demo charges. Anti-Skill had begun deploying en masse, but they needed Judgement's espers to help coral Skill-Out to them. In some cases that meant being bait (for the lower level espers), and others that meant terrorizing them towards Anti-Skill (someone with the level of Kuroko's skill and ability).

However, whilst Kuroko was busy pinning down one group of Skill-out thugs, Uiharu had seen a group of Skill-Out with bundles of Molotov Cocktails and some heavy duty slingshots. She didn't know what they were planning on taking out, but she decided for once not to sit on the sidelines and be a mere onlooker. She had picked up brick (not the best thing to use, but it beat an empty beer can or a damaged baseball), and chucked it at the bundle. While it didn't break all of them, it did shatter a few, but it brought the entire group's attention onto her.

Which now explained why she was currently running ragged up yet another flight of stairs, not entirely sure how to escape the now enraged Skill-Out thugs. Uiharu grimaced as she ran up yet another flight of stairs, her breath becoming ragged. _Damn it, why didn't I ever think to train for endurance more seriously_ , Uiharu asked herself. She however faced a bigger issue; she was nearing the roof. If she got to the roof and Kuroko wasn't able to get up there to extract her, Uiharu would be trapped, with no means to defend herself.

Uiharu cringed at the thought of what would happen to her; she wasn't a fighter, not in a long shot! She was at best a support operative, relaying information and digging through the online trove that was the internet to support her colleagues in Judgement. The few times she got into anything remotely physically dangerous, Misaka or Kuroko (or even Saten!) were there to bail her out!

She rushed forward through the door, her fears confirmed as she scanned the roof top; there was no other way down. No fire escape ladder, or other access entrance, nothing. Uiharu was well and truly trapped.

"There you are you fucking freak!" shouted a voice. Uiharu turned and saw the apparent leader of the Skill Out group that had been chasing after her standing in the doorway, a terrible smile on his face. "Well, I got to admit, for a freak, you did manage to put quite the chase, but alas, its time to put you in your place!"

Before Uiharu could brace herself in any manner, the lead thug dashed forward and sent a punch straight into her stomach. Uiharu felt all the air leave her body as the sheer power put behind the punch. She tumbled onto the ground, which only seemed to embolden the lead thug. She tried to get up, but the thug took the opportunity to kick her in the chest, sending her a little bit into the air before collapsing back down onto the ground.

"How pathetic, you make me and my boys sick," the leader sneered, bending down over Uiharu, who couldn't do anything other than curl up, the pain being too much for her. "We are trampled, left to rot in our shit and not a mind given to when one of ours is killed, but the moment a precious freak as yours is hit, you send an army after us! What do you have to say freak, before I let my boys do whatever it is we want to do with you?!"

Uiharu saw that behind the leader, a group of four boys with less than savory gleams in their eyes stared at her like a piece of meat. She shuddered at the thought of what they would do, and she felt anything she could or would've said catch in her throat. However, the silence was broken by a new voice.

"Hey, what do you guys think you are doing with her?"

* * *

 **Author's Note: Yes, this is indeed a rewrite of my very first story. Some of you may be wondering why, others may be joining us for the first time and wondering what this story is about. Well this A/N will hope to explain both.**

 **For those wondering why I am doing a rewrite of this story after year+ long hiatus, the reason is because of numerous factors. The biggest of these factors is because I royally screwed up with the timeline present in TAMNI. It's obvious that I never read the light novels when you see how Kakine is portrayed, that I never mentioned Othinus, or how in general there are conflicts in with my story and the cannon storyline. Thus with this rewrite, I hope to fix this problem, amongst others, which I shall now proceed to explain.**

 **The next issue became apparent when I began the Dark Binds Arc; too many god damn characters. Its fine to have many characters; it's not fine to try and jam face time for every character in every chapter, which is what I did. In addition to this, having too many characters meant a disorganized Arc line, where the progression of an arc was dragged out painfully.**

 **Finally, when I introduced the alchemist, I tried to make two stories in one; it wasn't effective in the slightest. The merging of events was sloppy at best and terrible enough that after writing 36 chapters and 152,000+ words, I've decided to do a rewrite.**

 **So what will the rewrite do differently than the original story did? Well, here's a bullet list of things I hope to accomplish;**

 _ **More detailed and focused chapters.**_

 _ **Improved character development and interaction.**_

 _ **Revising many of the arcs so that they smoothly transition from one into the next.**_

 _ **New arcs to highlight characters earlier on than they did in my previous attempt.**_

 _ **Detailed explanations of various aspects, including powers, characters' triggers and morals, and the science behind certain elements.**_

 _ **A rational UiharuXKakine that doesn't break canon yet is reasonable within my story.**_

 **For those new here, what is this story about; well, when it began, the original was about Uiharu trying to have a developed power, which quickly morphed into her becoming a power hungry Level 5 in a undisclosed amount of time that also involved alchemists. Yeah, it made sense when I was writing it, but hindsight is 20/20, and even I must admit, I fucked up. But as I stated, the problems that plagued that original will not (hopefully) be recurring here! So here is the main meat of this story, also presented in a bullet list;**

 _ **Uiharu's growth from Level 1 to 5 with both trials and hardships in a reasonable manner.**_

 _ **Multiple Arcs that will account follow largely Uiharu, with mini-arcs focusing on other characters and their lives.**_

 _ **Uiharu X Kakine that makes sense, there isn't enough of it on this site, and I think mine was one of the first.**_

 _ **A rational evolution to the Gates of Hell Arc (read the original to get an idea of what I'm talking about).**_

 **So as you see, there's a lot to cover, most of which I haven't covered. But this is to get the gist across. Anyway guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I wish that you guys follow me on this new and improved story. As always, please follow, favorite, and review the story, and I'll see you next time.**

 **PS: At the end of each chapter I will do an Author's responds section, where I'll answer questions, react to comments, and give my insights based on the reviews you guys give out. It will be after the A/N, and the text will be italicized as well as bolded so you guys know whether or not you want to skip or not. If you like that, please do take the time to read them. If not, you're free to skip at your leisure.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Aki**

* * *

Uiharu, along with the Skill-Out members, turned to the voice in question. Standing just at the door that led back into the building, was a girl a bit older than herself with sleek crimson hair and sapphire blue eyes, holding an overcoat over her shoulder. Uiharu was wondering what a girl, who didn't appear to be a part of Judgment given the lack of the armband, was doing here. Shouldn't Anti-Skill or another member of Judgement stopped her from getting into the district?

"Who the hell do you think you are?" shouted the Skill-Out leader, pissed off that his fun would have to wait. "Leave or else I promise you'll only find pain." The girl in response clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Typical idiots you lot are, thinking that taking the fight against civil servants will change anything," the girl scoffed. "Seriously, all you guys are doing is pouring oil onto your own funeral pyre."

"Fuck this bitch!" yelled one of the lesser Skill-Out members. "Even if she's a freak like this one-"here the member pointed down at Uiharu, who had scrambled back to the edge "-we still out number her six to one, and we have this!"

The member whipped out a stereo unit, and Uiharu's eye's widened, realizing that the stereo would probably have Capacity Down, a noise generator that impaired with Espers' abilities using infrasonic sound waves. To a non-esper it would be a mild high-pitch whine, but to an esper it was comparable to having a constant ringing after having a gun shot off right next to your ear. Uiharu watched as the Skill-Out leader pushed the play, and heard the god awful ringing in her ears. However, to her (and the Skill-Out gang's) surprise, the girl seemed not even affected.

"Really, you are going to use that overhyped piece of sh-junk? C'mon, you'll have to do much better than that," the girl said, goading the Skill-Out members.

"Fuck that bitch up boys!" the leader shouted. "Let's see how she likes a bit of fire!"

A Skill-Out member pulled out a one of the few undamaged Molotov cocktails, grinning like a mad man. He was about to throw it when suddenly the bottle shattered for next to no reason, engulfing the member's hand.

"Ah AHHH, MY HAND IS ON FUCKING FIRE!" the member shouted. The other members who were about to make a move to the fire bottles, wisely back away, with only one of the members trying to help the burning one's hand. The leader pulled out a switch blade.

"Fuck you bitch!" the man shouted, lunging toward the girl. Uiharu, still under the effects of the Capacity Down, could only watch in horror as the man lunged, fully intending to stab her in the gut.

The leader thought the girl was much like most espers; all ability, no strength. That was why Capacity Down was so useful; to remove an esper of their ability was like giving a guy an empty gun against someone with any form of close quarters combat training. So while the girl didn't seemed fazed by the machine, he figured he could still take her. However, this was seemingly proven wrong when the girl grabbed the guy's shirt, pulling him down and kneeing him in the gut.

Uiharu winced as she saw the leader double over in pain, dropping his knife. The leader glared at the girl before turning to the other members.

"What the hell are you waiting for, and invitation?! Get her boys!"

This seemingly rallied the few other members into action, and they began a haphazard charge at the girl. The girl smirked before going forward, putting herself in the middle. Launching quick punches and kicks, she quickly made short work of the group, targeting the knees, private areas, and guts to quickly disable the gang members with nary a scratch on her. The leader however still had some fight in him and got up to his feet.

"Well, color me impressed, but know this, these guys were just the bottom feeders," the leader remarked. "I'll kill you the next time we meet." Before Uiharu or the girl could react, the leader jumped off the roof with the Capacity Down. Finally freed of the effects, Uiharu slowly got up and went to see what had happened to the leader, only to see him unscathed despite falling quite a way.

"Huh, I guess he was a low rank gravity or air manipulator," the girl commented. Uiharu was breathing heavy, not used to be kicked around after running up several flights of stairs, but she managed to get her breath to ask an important question.

"Who are you?" Uiharu asked the girl, who promptly smirked.

"You can call me Aki, I detest my family so I don't often bother giving up my name," Aki answered. "Although, you look pretty banged up, how about you contact your partners at Judgement and then get you to see a doctor?" Uiharu nodded, pulling out her data pad and quickly contacted Kuroko.

"Kuroko, you there? Good, can you come by my location, I got a few members of Skill-Out and a civilian that need extraction, as well as myself."

* * *

An hour later saw Uiharu being examined by a medic, while Saten, Misaka, Kuroko, and Aki outside the medic's van. The rioting had died down in less than an hour, seemingly without cause, confusing both Judgement and Anti-skill officials. As a result, judgement and Anti-Skill were pulling out of the district, although a few units would remain behind just in case the rioting started up again.

Uiharu winced as the medic examined her body. He prodded her body with his fingers, checking for broken bones and the like. The medic sighed before standing back.

"Well Ms. Uiharu, you don't appear to have any broken bones, though you will have some bruising. I recommend you take it easy for the next couple of days. You fine for desk work and light field work, but until the pain is gone, I wouldn't recommend trying to handle a skirmish for a while."

"Okay sir," Uiharu said, slightly depressed. This day once again showed that she was weak, so pathetic that she had to be rescued by a civilian. She hated the fact that her ability once again proved practically useless in the face of danger; what point was there in being able to maintain how hot or how cold something was?

"You okay Uiharu?" Saten asked softly, resting her hand on Uiharu's shoulder. Uiharu sighed.

"No, I got beaten around and had to be saved by Aki," Uiharu answered before glancing at Aki. "Thanks for the save by the way Aki." The red head shrugged.

"No problem, just glad to have done some good," Aki replied. "Although you did some good by distracting though Skill-Out members, considering they had Molotov Cocktails. Who knows what would've been put to the torch?"

"What were you doing there?" Kuroko asked Aki. "The entire district was in lockdown due to the Skill-Out riot." Aki once again shrugged.

"I was taking a short cut to my place, District 17 is a lot easier to navigate and has generally less foot traffic so when I have to go from District 21 to 20, taking 17 is much faster than going around through district 9."

"I see, but still, you're an esper and the Skill-Out gangs had several Capacity Downs, it was extremely dangerous for you to be around." Kuroko pointed out, to which Aki nodded.

"That's true, but thankfully my ability, Wavelength Modification, allows me to render Capacity Down useless by manipulating the wavelength of the sound waves before they get to me," Aki explained. "That said, I took refugee on the roof where I found Uiharu when I realized the rioting was going on."

"Wavelength Modification, never heard of that ability," Misaka muttered. Aki shook her head.

"That's because most times people who operate within the spectrum of wavelength modifying often specialized within a certain area, like modifying sound's or light's wavelength. Therefore, their ability is given a name based on what they modify, not how the modification occurs."

"I see, so I take it from your explanation that you can modify a wide range of um, items?" Kuroko asked. Aki nodded.

"Yeah, for me I can modify sound, temperatures, light to a lesser degree, and finally vibrations that exists in solids and liquids though again to a lesser degree than sound," Aki supplied. "Although I must ask, what's your ability Uiharu? If you don't have an ability that suited for confrontations, you shouldn't have been on the frontlines. I don't mean to insult you in anyway, but I wouldn't want you to get needlessly injured."

"It's fine, it isn't like I haven't heard those same concerns," Uiharu said dejectedly. "My ability is Thermal Hands; I can maintain, heat up, or cool down the temperatures of items in my hand. It's not that useful except being a glorified thermos."

Much to the surprise of the four girls, Aki smiled.

"Ah, I see. Thermal Hands huh, I bet I could help you with that."

"What, how?" Uiharu asked. "I remember my teachers telling me that they had little data on my ability and that unless I increased past Level 1, there wasn't much they could do for me." Aki sighed, shaking her head.

"Those liars, the truth of the matter is that at the off set, your ability seems weak and pointless to level up," Aki began. "Unlike electromasters, whose abilities are numerous and have a plethora of applications, your Thermal Hands seems to be a one trick pony. So they tell you the lie that they don't have data, when in reality they are probably ignoring your abilities in favor of those that show more promise."

Aki's words rang through Uiharu's head like a gunshot echo. Her teachers were intentionally leading her on with no real intent on their part to help her improve? She felt herself begin to fume with anger, before she squashed it, thinking about how hard it must be for a single teacher to try and level up anywhere between twenty and thirty students with widely varying abilities. She let out a deep sigh.

"I see, that sucks," Uiharu muttered. "But then why do you think you could help me with my ability?"

"Because while your ability is focused solely on manipulating temperature ranges, I can do it, though to a lesser extent than what you can do when you get level up," Aki stated confidently. "I can come over to your place and go over how the mechanics of your ability works, and then we can begin training your ability so you can level up."

"So you plan on taking Uiharu under your wing because your abilities have enough of a common factor to work with?" Kuroko asked. "If that's the case, then why don't most research groups and academies use this mentor model?" Aki shrugged before replying.

"Well, most espers are extremely prideful and thus see help from a peer are a sign that they are weak. That or there aren't a lot of espers that share enough common ground to make use of a mentorship. I mean, there's what, like 50 or 60 teleporters in all of Academy City, of which less than 20 can teleport multiple objects? Now apply that to more obscure abilities, like Uiharu's or mine, and the problem becomes even worse. The only group of espers that would benefit greatly from mentorship would be electromasters, and that because it's the most abundant ability group there is."

"I see," Misaka said. "Well, it's up to Uiharu if she wants to go under your wing, but just promise me you won't hurt her."

"I won't hurt Uiharu," promised Aki. "Well Uiharu, want me to be your mentor?"

Uiharu didn't even need to think about it. She was tired of being completely helpless and needing assistance from her friends when the going got tough. She needed to improve her ability because without a doubt she and her friends would likely get caught up in something and she might not have her friends to protect her.

"I will Aki," Uiharu stated. Aki smiled.

"Alright then, meet me on Friday after school near the park," Aki said. "You guys have a good evening; I need to get home to finish some assignments I've been neglecting to do."

"Bye Aki," the four girls said, waving their new acquaintance good bye. Uiharu and the four began walking back to the Judgement HQ, a smile on her face.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm back again, sorry, I've been busy since the first chapter. I move last month from Pennsylvania to Nevada, so the months leading up to it I was packing, dealing with work, and working on a plethora of other projects. I didn't mean to start the rewrite only to be delayed for 5 months, hopefully I can keep the updates more frequently. But enough excuses, on to some points.**

 **First, we meet Aki once more, and I hope to have done a better fight scene than my first attempt (looking back on it, the fight was more a one-way slaughter and badly written at that). This time Aki will definitely mentor Uiharu while becoming one of her closest friends, which'll make the eventual schism more impactful.**

 **Second, I want to explain something. When I did my first story, I had Uiharu x Kakine, but as some of you pointed out, it clashed with several canon sources, and it made little sense. Why would there be Dark (or the original) Kakine if Beetle 06 took over the collective mass of Dark Matter? I therefore have begun to work an idea that has Dark Kakine reappear, but his interactions with Uiharu, along with some plot material that will appear before his arrival, allow for a more understandable Uiharu x Kakine (btw, what is this ship's name?).**

 **Finally, next chapter will begin Uiharu's first lessons in understanding her ability, along with a little surprise, something that wasn't in the original story but will begin the slide towards the Gates of Hell Arc. Until next times guys, please read, follow, favorite, and review the story, and hopefully I'll see you guys in a month or so.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Origin of Convergence

* * *

Uiharu sighed, the week leading up to Friday was filled with monotony. Classes remained the same, with little she could do in them, work at Judgement was filled with minor cases thankfully, but on the whole it was boring. Therefore, she was looking to training with Aki, perhaps this would prove to be the proverbial break she was looking for.

"Uiharu, you alright?" Saten asked Uiharu during their lunch break.

"Oh yeah, thanks for your concern Saten. I'm just looking forward to the afternoon's training with Aki," Uiharu answered.

"I see," Saten said. "How long do you think you will be; remember, we have curfew, and we do have that assignment that due Monday."

"I know, and to be honest, I don't know how long the training will take," Uiharu replied. "However, I don't think it should take too long, maybe an hour or two perhaps?"

"Well, good luck with your training, hopefully it goes well," Saten said. "I'll be sure to either have some dinner ready for you or leave some leftovers in the fridge."

"Thanks Saten," Uiharu said. The rest of the school day went rather slow for Uiharu, the daily grind wearing on Uiharu's excitement. But when the bell rang, Uiharu gathered her things and after saying her good byes to Saten, walked to the park where Aki was waiting for her.

As she walked, Uiharu saw several students who were walking about after a day of school, and noticed a fair number of them showing off their ability to those close of them. She grimaced; having an ability that wasn't taken seriously even by her and then seeing others flaunt their abilities wore her down. It was like a subtle if unintentionally sign that every other high level esper was saying 'fuck you' to her. Perhaps that how Skill-Out felt about espers, only to a more extreme reaction.

She mulled over her performance at Judgement, and that was where it really stung. She hated feeling useless, but compared to Kuroko and Konori, she was exceedingly vulnerable in the field, because she simply lacked any means to properly defend herself. Thus her Judgement comrades treated her like one might a fine vase; keep her in sight but make sure it wouldn't come tumbling down. Uiharu hated how everyone felt she needed…codling. It aggravated her to no end, but what could she have done about it?

Shaking her head to pull her thoughts out of that self-encircling anger, Uiharu knew that with Aki's mentorship, she could possibly not have to rely on others to keep her safe in the field. Heck, she could even be the one doing the saving, that be great!

"Hello Uiharu!" Uiharu was pulled from her thoughts by Aki's voice coming from the park. The park wasn't much, just a patch of grass, trees, with a paved walkway with benches along the path next to a river to give a calm relaxed feeling of nature away from the super-built up high rise that made up Academy City.

"Ah, hello Aki!" Uiharu replied, running down to meet Aki, who was sitting on a bench overlooking the river. Aki was wearing her overcoat this time, and gave her the look of a young scientist.

"Hello Uiharu, how are you doing today?" Aki inquired politely.

"I'm a bit anxious to be honest, my classes seemed to go by very slowly for me," Uiharu admitted. Aki lightly giggled.

"It's fine to feel anxious, but today is mostly determining the extent of your ability," Aki replied. "So that way I can begin planning on a way to improve your ability. So first, take ahold of that glass over there."

Uiharu glanced at the bench and saw the glass, filled with a clear liquid that was producing a bit of white smoke. Eyeing the glass wearily, Uiharu took ahold of it, before letting it go due to the sudden burning sensation in her hands.

"Ow, what the heck is in there?!" Uiharu shouted. Aki quietly hummed.

"Alright, so you can't handle holding a insulated glass of liquid nitrogen, but that is to be expected," Aki commented, before turning to Uiharu. "Well, since it was painful for you to hold that, try holding this ice cube."

Uiharu noted that the ice cube didn't even seem to melt in Aki's hand, wondering how before remembering that Aki could do what she could do. She took a hold of it, and noted that while she could feel it, it wasn't painful at all. She kept ahold of it before Aki smiled.

"Okay, so you can keep water frozen, although we would need to do more experiments to test how low of temperatures you can handle, but it's a good starting place to begin at. Now to test for how high you can go, take that glass of water, and I want you to get it as hot as you can before it gets too hot for you to handle or you can't get any higher."

Uiharu held the glass, and began imaging the water was like in a hot pot. While she concentrated on the task of increasing the water's temperature, she decided to ask Aki a few questions.

"So, how hot and cold can you manipulate stuff?" Uiharu asked the crimson redhead. Aki shrugged.

"Well, before an incident, I could between 200 and 500 kelvin," Aki answered.

"Um, what's kelvin?" Aki raised an eyebrow before seemingly realizing what Uiharu meant.

"Oh, I guess for most people kelvin isn't that useful, I tend to forget," Aki began. "But to explain, the Kelvin scale is not unlike the Celsius scale, except 0 Kelvin is absolute zero, whereas 0 Celsius is the freezing point of water. In addition, the Kelvin scale is mostly used by scientist when describing the temperature of objects beyond a certain point, where we lack any sense of scale to compare to."

"Oh, such as what, and what's absolute zero?" Uiharu asked.

"Absolute zero is a theoretical by currently physically impossible temperature that would defy Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, because you could determine both the location and the velocity of atoms. Since you can only know one or the other, you can't reach absolute zero, as least until the introduction of espers, but there hasn't been an espers yet to achieve absolute zero. The coldest temperature ever recorded was 100 picokelvins, or 0.000,000,000,1 of a kelvin, and that took a lot of work to achieve and it was for a very brief moment."

"As for your first question, we start ignoring Celsius and Farenheit and focus solely on Kelvin with temperatures above those produced by nuclear weapons at 0.1 milliseconds after detonations, such as the core of the sun, which sits at 13,600,000 degrees Kelvin. I mean sure you could convert Kelvin to your choice of measurement, but since most scales use Kelvin, it's easier to work off of those numbers."

"So what are 200 and 500 kelvin then?" Uiharu asked, not having any sense of scale. She also peered at the water, and noticed little air bubbles forming where her hands were gripping the glass.

"So 200 Kelvin is about -71 degrees Celsius, where the coldest temperatures in a permanently inhabited area were recorded, and 500 Kelvin is just shy of the ignition temperature of paper," Aki answered. "And it seems you have reached a boil, so let me put in this thermometer and see if you can go higher."

"Okay, so you are pretty powerful then," Uiharu commented. Aki shook her head.

"Not really, after a certain incident, I dropped from Level 4 to Level 3, and my power suffered quite a hit," Aki said wistfully. "With that power drop, I was let go of from the research group studying my power, because once it was discovered that trying to regain my power cause diminishing returns, they deemed the research a loss and canceled it."

"I didn't know espers could lose their power permantly," Uiharu said. "I mean I know of Capacity Down, but once it's off or destroyed the espers can regain their full potential." Aki nodded.

"It's not common, especially amongst Level 3 or higher espers, but usually its due to traumatic experiences," Aki explained. "But anyway, it appears you peak at the boiling temperature of water, so you can stop for the moment."

Uiharu nodded and dumped the water out onto the grass, before turning back to Aki.

"So Uiharu, if the freezing and boiling point of water is what you start out at, then it might be easy for me to increase your ability, but I will say, it will be very technical and involving a lot of study. Are you sure you want to continue?"

"Yes Aki!" Uiharu stated without giving it too much thought. She wouldn't lose the opportunity to not rely on others for her own protection! Aki nodded.

"Very well, then take this notebook and begin studying; it was mine notebook when I was studying manipulating the temperature wavelength of objects. We'll see each other Monday after school to see what you understood. And here's my phone number, in case you need to reschedule because of a case with Judgement," Aki stated. Uiharu took the phone number and quickly punched it into her phone, before handing Aki her number.

"Here's my number, its only fair to give you mine if you are giving me yours," Uiharu said. "And I will call if something comes up; I promise!"

"I know," Aki replied calmly. "Anyway, remember to read that notebook and take from it what you can." Aki began to walk away, leaving Uiharu excited to read the notebook.

"I will!"

* * *

Across the globe, in a quiet German Alpine town in the middle of night, a woman was walking down the street. She wasn't like the native Germans; instead of blonde hair, she had snow white hair, instead of alabaster skin, her skin had a youthful tan, and instead of the common blue eyes, her eyes were crimson red. She walked with purpose, knowing where she was heading.

Walking past a beer hall where young men were getting drunk and making fools of themselves, she approached a Gothic house that stood outside of the town's church, walking up and knocking on the door.

" _Wer ist da_?" came a very imperious sounding voice from the other side of the door.

"Es ist Albedo," replied the woman in her Italian accent. She could hear the shuffling of a chair and the approach of footsteps, before the deadbolt was unlocked and the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was an older man. He was tall and slim, with a gaunt face with his hair taking on a platinum gray and combed to the left and back. He wore a black trench coat with a white tie, giving the older man an aura of power. The woman normally wouldn't take an older man seriously, but this man was one of perhaps five men she wouldn't want to anger.

"It's been a while Albedo," the man said in English, and Albedo noted how disgusted the man was with speaking in the tongues of his enemies.

"So it has been Maximillian," Albedo replied. Maximillian narrowed his eyes at the Italian woman.

"So what do you want Albedo; did your master Aurelous send you to gather more forbidden texts from me, or is this a private matter?" Maximillian asked. Albedo shook her head.

"No, my teacher Aurelous has been missing, and in fact the Vatican were hunting him down. For some reason they lost the trail in Academy City," Albedo answered, surprising the German. "No, this is a matter between Magnus, Nigerdo, Citrinitas, and myself."

"Oh, so what are four of the five students of the most renowned Alchemist wanting with little old me?" Maximillian asked sarcastically.

"We are seeking the means to elevate me to a higher existence," Albedo answered bluntly. The German smirked, before chuckling darkly.

"Oh, and what possible reason do you think you could give me to elevate you to that level of power?" Maximillian inquired. Albedo gave the German a fanged smirk, show casing her canines, which were longer and sharper than a normal man's.

"Because with this power, we seek to reshape the world in the image you had for so long desired," Albedo pointed out. "After all, weren't you involved with the Schwarze Sonne Society?" Albedo waited a moment for the German to respond, only to be surprised with herself getting lifted off the ground, a sensation of someone strangling her being the only thing she felt. Looking at Maximillian, she saw his hand and eyes glowing azure.

"You four dare to mock me?!" Maximillian hissed out. "You dare foolishly blunder through and attempt to seek the true lords of this world, making a mockery of my moment of greatest achievement and failure, and to what end?!"

"We wish to bring about a new age, one where your lords ascend from their isolation and take their rightful place as the Lords of this world!" Albedo gasped out. She felt the grip around her throat let go, falling to the ground.

"So, you which to bring the seven princes from their exile hmm?" Maximillian asked, seemingly wanting an answer, but it wasn't to be. "It is impossible for them to ascend, because unless you plan on killing god, their existence on Earth would be rejected. The society learned this early on."

Albedo's eyes widened. She thought the entire purpose of the Schwarze Sonne Society was to bring the 7 Lords onto Earth!

"Then what was your goal?!" Albedo asked. Maximillian chuckled.

"It was to gain their favor, to turn the tide with our Occult knowledge, and imposed a new world order. I succeeded with gaining the favor of one, but before I could spread the favor further to my disciples and gain the favor of the other 6, that damn English Magician came and ruined everything! Had he not intervened, this world wouldn't be this mire of bullshit and hypocrisy it is today!"

Albedo shuddered at the mention of Maximillian's new order. No one, not even herself, could not but feel a cold shill at the thoughts of the horrors Maximillian was willing to commit for his lords. But while he was to be feared for his zealous opinions towards his lords and his work, he was a well of information.

"Then could the four of us manage to gain one of their favors?" Albedo inquired. The German rubbed his chin.

"Yes, but the price is usually quite high, as that was the biggest barrier to the Society's goals," Maximillian stated. "However, if you offer a generous gift to a particular lord, then you could easily gain the power you are seeking."

"What exactly do you mean?" Albedo asked, and she felt like her soul was being examined.

"You could become a Lesser Demon Prince of one of the Lords, my vampire fraulien," Maximillian explained to Albedo. "You could easily take on the likes of a near Magic-God with that power. What then happens afterwards would be up to you, but hear this, you aren't the first to try this, and any misstep, mistake, or failure will see you consumed by the Lords for failing them."

Maximillian waved his hand, and the azure glow returned, but instead of strangling the vampire, a number of tomes came forth.

"Here, these are the tomes you will need, and remember, don't fail the lords, for if they don't take care of you, I will personally come after you, and not even you, my vampire fraulien, will be safe from my powers." Albedo nodded, understanding the threat.

"Then good, you have what you need, contact me only when you need to. Goodbye Albedo, and may the Dark Lords favor you," Maximillian said, before returning back inside. Albedo, with the tomes in hand, began walking out of the German city. She grabbed her phone and dialed a number. And the third dial, the call was received.

"What is it Albedo, did the Totenkompf give us the tombs we needed?" asked a regal sounding voice.

"Not exactly Magnus," Albedo began. "We need to talk."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Well now, Uiharu's ascent has started, and I think I did a better job with it than I did the first time. And we meet Albedo, the Italian vampire, meeting a future recurring character, Maximillian. You guys can guess what Maximillian is, but he won't be showing his full potential for a while. His role is akin to Aleister's; a very powerful character whose motives and goals are unknown to those around him. But there are a few points I want to get to before I get to the reviews.**

 **First, all the Alchemists that are going to appear will have unique alchemic abilities, they won't all be the same. Albedo, due to being a vampire, will have blood-related powers, Magnus will have a pseudo Ars Magna, and the two Persians will actually use combo-alchemy, so they will be a bitch to write, but fun to read.**

 **Second, Uiharu won't blitz from Level 1 to 4 as fast as she did. She will take a bit longer to level up, and her personality will take a more gradual shift, but there will be sharp shifts at times, mostly due to the interference of outside forces. That said, expect inner-Dark-Uiharu not too long.**

 **Now for the few reviews!**

 **-RPGPersonna: yeah, Uiharu hates being the third-wheel in times of conflict, and Aki will be helping her. As to your question about Touma, yes he will, but only in a few cameos during what could be described as the science path (the main flow following Uiharu), but when magic gets involved, oh yeah, he will be making an impact. And thanks for pointing out that bit about Kakine. It will surely fit into this story, though how has yet to make itself clear yet.**

 **-Sora93232: Thanks, glad you're liking the story. And I have a better handle on how to deal with Uiharu's ability growth, trust me, it will be worth the wait.**

 **-Firedusk: Also glad to see you are interested in this story, and there will be a bit of changes, more development, more character growth, less multi-angle chapters, greater chapter focus, etc.**

 **-Guest: Touma will appear (like I stated above), but for Aogami, he won't be the Rank 6 Level 5 esper; I haven't decided how it will work out, but what I do know is that it will be an OC, and the ability won't be 'flashy'; it will be a lot more subtle than the other Level 5 espers.**

 **Well, that's it for now, until the next chapter, where we continue building up Aki's and Uiharu's relationship, see the dark side of Academy City take interest, and meet two devils in the mask of men appear, please read, follow, favorite, and review, and I'll see you guys next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Of Deals and Plans

* * *

"Darn it, where is he?" Uiharu mumbled to herself. She and Kuroko had been sent to the Seventh Mist mall to find a missing kid due to the parents having to file their taxes and their kid walked away from his chair. She had spent already half an hour looking around the mall, only to end up with nothing. She seethed in frustration; not being able to find the kid was just the tip of the iceberg.

It had been over a week since Aki began training Uiharu, and she hadn't been getting much sleep and was getting more easily flustered and frustrated. Today she yelled, not whined, when Saten flipped her skirt before promptly apologizing. Then she had gotten a tomato-based soup, which gave her heartburn and she had no heartburn medication. And finally before this missing kid case Uiharu had detected a virus on her portable tablet, and had to wipe everything off of it before it infected the Judgement servers; including all of her progress of her various tablet games that she poured days' worth of time into and a couple of essays that she needed to print off for school.

"Grr, my day has been terrible!" Uiharu muttered angrily. She looked out of the corner of her eye, seeing an older girl with a set of rather enviable bust beating up a trio of men, one of whom was moaning in pleasure? She shook her heads, thinking rather cynically that those three probably did something to deserve their fate. She walked past before hearing her phone go off. Grabbing it and answering, Uiharu wondered who it was.

"Uiharu here, how may I help you?"

"Ah Uiharu, it's Kuroko," the pink haired agent said. "I'm calling to inform you the boy has been found; he went to the arcade, and I was able to reunite the boy with his parents." Uiharu sighed; yet again it wasn't her efforts that 'saved the day' rather it'd been one of the high level espers. She shook her envy aside.

"Alright then, is there anything else we need to do?" Uiharu asked. She heard Kuroko check her tablet, a few clicks being heard over the line.

"Ah, let me see…it appears no," Kuroko replied. "Come back to the station whenever you can, it seems we got paperwork until curfew."

"Very well," Uiharu said before hanging up. She turned around only to bump into the girl she saw earlier. "Ah sorry miss, I apologize for bumping into you."

The girl, who Uiharu could now see in greater, had long black hair, brown eyes, fair skin, and had a rather polished looking forehead. The girl smiled lightly.

"Well, at least you have better etiquette than those three perverts," the girl said politely. "My name is Fukiyose Seiri, what's yours?"

"Eh, oh its Uiharu Kazari."

"Well it was nice meeting you Uiharu even if it was by accident," Fukiyose said. "I have a classmate to see, so see you next time."

"You too," Uiharu said, wondering if they would ever meet again. She began making her way out of the mall, thinking about her lessons with Aki and the notebook Aki gave her.

While they've only had one other lesson, it was informative. They had begun with trying to get Uiharu to heat water beyond a boil, and thus far they managed to reach 463 kelvin, or the ignition temperature of matches, or roughly a 24% increase in heat. For cooling things down, they managed 184 degrees kelvin, or the coldest recorded temperature at the Vostok Station in Antartica. Not as drastic a change as with heat, but Aki assured her that was to be expected; you can get hotter for longer than you can get colder. In theory there was an absolute zero, but not necessarily an absolute hot.

Aki explained that the hottest something could get before modern physics simply broke down was 1.41x10^32 degrees kelvin, which as Aki further explained was so hot that no one knew what would exactly happen. One of the hypothesis about what would happen is that much heat, acting a lot like mass at that point, would tear a hole in space time and function like a black hole, nicknamed a Kugelblitz. But it was only a hypothesis, and Aki wasn't sure that even as specific as uiharu's ability was she could reach such high temperatures.

The notebook meanwhile was giving Uiharu a lot of insight and ideas for her ability. It explained the various uses of modifying the temperature of objects. She could obviously freeze or burn things but that wasn't the limit. She could cause, with sufficiently high temperatures, cause the air to red shift into black, concealing her location, something Aki didn't do as she could alter the wavelength of visible light to act like a classic movie interpretation of a cloaking device. She could alter weather patterns to create localized weather events, but again Aki didn't do this as it was very chaotic and difficult to control, as everything from air temperature, relative humidity, wind direction, and many, many more things could alter a weather system. But Uiharu was heavily interested in something Aki did use, heat barriers.

Using a heat barrier to either melt incoming projectiles or freeze fluids in place, Aki noted it was highly effective in fights. Uiharu, tired of being defenseless in the various fights that her friends got into, was instantly intrigued, and tried to alter the air around her hands to act like a heat barrier. Alas, besides causing a fair bit of steam when she was caught in the rain, and then following it with creating a little bit of snow (which melted upon touching the wet ground), she hadn't done much.

"Hey, what do you think the boss is going to do when he hears about the runaway daughter of his niece training a level 1 esper?" Uiharu snapped her head to the source of that person, only to see a tall man in a lab coat with long black hair. He was walking with a blonde man wearing a pair of shades.

"You know how the boss is; wait and observe," the blonde replied. "If what Aki is doing has some benefit that he could exploit, then he will intervene. If not, then he won't do anything. But considering that Aki was trained by the best the family had to offer, I believe that the esper she is working on has potential, and we may be called to _lend a helping hand_."

Uiharu shuddered at the way the man spoke; it was cold and calculating, with a touch of apathy at the end, as though this was a man willing to go beyond morals to achieve what he wanted. The other man seemed…indifferent, more annoyed and bored with whatever they were up to. However, the two were talking about Aki and, if she was the only one Aki was training, then by extension herself. She began to follow the two, trying to remember what she learned from pop culture and some training manuals on how to tail people.

She tried to keep to crowds going in the same direction as the men, refrained from walking through groups of people going in the opposite direction, and in general kept them in her sight while trying to minimize how much effort she was putting into her effort. It seemed to be working as the two continued to walk and talk all the way out of the mall and towards…she didn't know where exactly they were heading, but it was going further and further away from the developed sections of the city.

"So, any ideas if the boss thinks that this Level 0 that Aki is training could hinder his other projects?" asked the black haired man.

"Doubt it," the blonde quickly answered. "The other projects are still in the early stages, and thus not obvious for someone to interfere with quite yet. Also, remember that the boss has a lot of pull in the city, easily rivalling the Board of Directors."

"True, but still," the other man said. "I'd hate to be on the receiving end of being someone's wrath due someone or something mucking the boss's plans."

"Amen to that."

"Say, what exactly are we picking up?"

"Something the boss has been interested, and myself for that matter. Remember that major pharmaceutical company that went under…three months ago I think?"

"Yeah, don't remember the name but I remember the papers were making a big deal of it. Is it something they had?"

"Sort of; it's the chemical formula for a product they had built to be 'the next big thing' for Academy City, but during testing trials it had some serious side effects. It did what it was promised, but in the subjects it caused radical mood shifts?"

"What, like my ex on her period?"

"No, more like the ax-crazy bastards in slasher films."

"Sweet Christ, so why's the boss interested in something like that?"

"Because it did boost the powers of Espers, and with a training regime it could lead to faster level ups for Espers," the blonde explained. "But we need the formula first before we can go about tinkering with it. Hence the gentleman in front of us."

Uiharu quickly realized her position, nearly completely exposed in a dimly lit parking garage. She quickly ducked behind cover and pulled out her tablet and set it on record. She may have lost her game data, but she sure as shit would have something to ensure she could pursue these men in the future. Whatever they were up to, it didn't sound good.

"Hello there, you got the money?" asked a high-schooler in a wife-beater and a beanie cap. Uiharu spotted a symbol of the Imperial Rising Sun, recognizing the person as a member of the up and coming Rising Sun Cell of Skill-Out.

The Rising Sun Cell weren't like most Skill-Out gangs, content with harassment and smuggling operations. They focused on arms deals, acting as middlemen for big deals, extortion and racketeering, and finally armed assault. The first reason no one could bring them down is because they were rather small for a Skill-Out gang and thus difficult to find, and secondly they didn't so much as care about the class warfare as merely exploit it for their own ends, working both sides to get more influence for themselves.

"Indeed we do, but first, do you have the product?"

"Yeah, was a bitch to get as the warehouse was in that district where a bunch of the other dumbass Skill-Out gangs decided to riot to no end," the high-schooler said. "But we got the plans, although why not the product?"

"That isn't your concern," the blonde said icily. "Just be sure that your operations don't interfere with ours, and we'll be fine." The High schooler snorted.

"Whatever, all I care about is making a buck in this shitty city." The High schooler took the package out of his shirt, a simple yellow parcel that kept covered whatever was inside. "Here's the good, where's the cash?"

"Right here," The blonde said, handing over a brief case. The high-schooler exchanged the package for the case, lifting it up and down to check its weight before opening it. He whistled once he got a good look inside.

"Right, well then, nice doing business with you," the high schooler said. The blonde nodded.

"I wouldn't call it business, more like a one-time exchange, but none the less same to you," the blonde said. The Skill-out members slinked away into a van before pulling out, leaving Uiharu to quietly get it away and give the video to her higher ups for analysis.

While Uiharu made it out of the garage, the two men remained, before looking over the ledge to see the person their boss was interested in going across the street down below.

"Kind of amusing how she thought she escaped our notice," remarked the black hair man. "Katsu, what's your opinion on her?"

"She seems like a pest now, but who knows, perhaps she will be better than those rejects from Dark May Taki," Katsu replied to his associate. "Anyway, you destroyed whatever video she recorded.

"Aye, she will be most disappointed when she finds out that not only was her video destroyed but so was her tablet," Taki said before raising his hand, revealing a large black disc in his hand. "This handy EMP pulse may have a short range and not be strong enough to knock out a vehicle, but tablets sure as shit aren't shielded against them."

"Good, then let's get back and see what our boss wants us to do next; he is about to propose to the headmaster of Tokiwadai to start a program to train lower end espers using their espers and entice Aki into attending."

"Ah, so I assume it is so we can get access to Ms. Kazari's development without having to patrol the city like a bunch of pedophilic stalkers," Taki said. Katsu nodded, chuckling at how absurd it would be if he and Taki were to stalk Ms. Kazari in a black van with tinted windows. Talking about textbook pedophile.

"Yes indeed, but we need to get a move on, I hope that my concoction works."

"Ah, what crazy poison did you make this time?" Taki asked.

"Very simple, a clear powdered form that is able to be absorbed through the skin that acts a lot like Strychnine poison," Katsu said. "When those idiots count their money, they will suffer a death that most would rather avoid via a bullet to the brain then what Strychnine offers."

"Damn, that's fucking brutal," Taki said. "Still, they in general oppose the will of the boss and his family, so they deserve it."

"Yes they do," Katsu said, ferally smirking at the thought that those idiots he was forced to deal with were going to die due to their greed.

* * *

"Ah, so relaxing is the Veil," muttered Maximillian, observing the Veil. The Veil wasn't something easily explained to someone unversed in magic, but even to those that understood magic it could still be complicated. It could be called a pocket dimension, one only accessible through esoteric rituals, where all the laws of physics and magic on Earth were rendered null and void. It could be seen as a place where anything and everything was possible and not possible. It could even be called the place where things that shouldn't exist could exist.

As far as the eye could see was layers upon layers of azure blue-colored mist, and anything Maximillian need would easily appear before him. Right now, a nice plush chair was surrounded by a library unlike any man could dream to have. Truly, even with a fraction of the tomes in this library could disrupt the balance back on Earth, but Maximillian couldn't care about humanity; no, only knowledge mattered, and he knew his patron Lord understood his fascination with knowledge.

Maximillian turned his attention to a floating blue orb heading his way.

"What is it you require milord?" Maximillian asked. Through the orb a voice came forth, in a cultured tone that no man could be fit to have.

"Maximillian, you know doubt have glanced into the possible futures that lay before us," the voice said. Maximillian nodded; he had spent some time observing the possible futures about Albedo had come by.

"Yes, I have milord," Maximillian answered. "Why, do you wish for me to take advantage of the situation for you and the others milord?"

"Indeed, the others grow restless, and I desire to see an almighty clash to occur," his lord said. "I too grow tired of this false belief that continues to festered on Earth."

"Peace," Maximillian spat out like it was something incredibly bitter.

"Yes, peace, or what those insolent fools delude themselves into believing is peace," his lord said. "I believe a great culling is needed, but for that to happen, we Lords need bodies to house our souls, more servants to be at our beck and call, and a large gathering of devouted zealots to follow our path."

"I see, where do you wish for me to start?" Maximillian asked. The orb, despite being featureless, gave Maximillian the impression his Lord was smirking.

"First gather us seven devout servants," his lord commanded. "Through them we can begin the process of giving us Lords a physical form. And when that is completed, you will be rewarded."

Maximillian frowned; he had already been blessed once by his Lord with knowledge beyond reasoning.

"What more could I get?" Maximillian said. The orb vibrated for a few, before a chuckle came out.

"You will be ascended to a status that few could hope to reach; not even the so-called Magic Gods will be able to compare with your power, and your form will be remade to better fit your new status," his lord explained. "But regardless, one thing of note before you begin finding the lords their servants, I have already decided on a suitable person for my servant."

"Is it the inevitable victim of Albedo?" Maximillian inquired. His observation into the myriads of futures had a few constants, one being that during an ambush Albedo creates a vampire to act as her servant.

"Indeed, she is much more…worthy of being my servant than that arrogant vampire," his Lord answered. "Therefore, I want you to enter Academy City and begin using rituals to connect her to me; I shall handle the subversion myself."

"As you wish milord," Maximillian said. "But please remember that pride comes before the fall."

"I remember that all too well, but I understand your concern," his lord said. "Now go Maximillian Faust! Go forth and bring about our ascension from obscurity! Bring forth seven servants of Hell and bring forth the day of Judgement!"

"At once, milord Lucifer the Mourning Star!" Maximillian vowed, snapping his fingers. A glow engulfed Maximillian before he reappeared in Japan, in his former uniform. A black M32 officers jacket with matching trousers with a black visor cap with two symbols on it, the first was a silver skulls and bones, and the second above it was an eagle with holding a wreath with a swastika in the middle.

"My lord, allow me to finish what I started for the Thule Society and the Schwarze Sonne Society!" Maximillian said before setting off, wondering how his arch enemy would react to seeing him still alive. After all, not many can claim to still live after facing against the Blasting Rod of Aleister Crowley.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm back. Sorry, I know its been a long time, but life caught up with me, and it wasn't sunshine and rainbows. Nothing back happened to me in particular, but family-related drama has caused some stress and winter in Northern Nevada was annoying. Seriously, I hate snow and ice, and I had to deal with it for almost the entirety of Winter here! Ugh, but onto reviews!**

 **-RPGPersona: I agree, the anime is really fluffy and nice, but this story is going to a more somber and serious route. I do enjoy making my stories technical as it shows that the author actually put in the effort to make their story make sense and to have some flow of logic. As for what Maximillian is up to, well you see here he is up to no good. He is setting up Albedo for his lord's plan, and he is pretty apathetic to people in general. That is all I'm going to say for now, as we will look more into his personality later.**

 **-Guest 1: Dark Uiharu was a joy to write the first time I wrote this story, so I plan on improving her for this one. Just be patient; it shall come.**

 **-Firedusk: Next chapter is here, rejoice!**

 **Guest 2: Alright, note I can only take down up to a max of 3 reviews a day, so give me time to take them down. I will get them down, just give me time.**

 **I don't have anything to say about this chapter, but be prepared for the next chapter! As always guys, please, read, review, follow, and favorite, and I'll catch you guys next time.**

 **PS: In case anyone wonders; I don't cancel my stories regardless of time it takes for me to update my chapters. Unless I state otherwise, the story is alive. Thought I should clarify.**


	5. Author's Note Very important

**Author's Note**

 **Hello everyone, this is Panzer4life, and this A/N that is going out to all of my stories, and it deals with a very sudden event that pertains to all of my stories, so I urge you to read this.**

 **At the beginning of June, I woke up, preparing to head to my new job at the local gas station when I found to my horror my computer wouldn't start right. It went automatically to the repair page, did not boot up Windows 10, and I had no means to bypass. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, seemed to work. Taking apart the computer to clean it, trying to reinstall Windows 10, using all the options afforded to me by the repair page, none of it worked. So I had to shell out over $600 to buy myself a laptop.**

 **Now, why does this affect you, my dear readers? Well, you see I was a dumbass and didn't think to have a backup of all of my files,** _ **including the files with all of my writing projects**_ **.**

 **Yes, you read that right, all of my writing projects. All of my current and pre-published/proto stories, gone with my computer. So this puts me into a pickle; what the fuck do I do? Some stories will be easy to get back into things and start writing, others not so much.**

 **So what I am going to is list the status of my stories, and if they are getting the axe, explaining why.**

 **All of the following will be continued;**

 **-A Certain Scientific Kugelblitz (rewrite)**

 **-A Certain Occult Connection**

 **-A Certain Scientific Angelica**

 **-Arc of Fate**

 **-Demon Lord of the Empire**

 **-Jaune Arc the Praetor**

 **-Gaige the Mechromancer Huntress**

 **-Rise of Remnant**

 **The following will be canceled;**

 **-A Certain Demonic Accelerator: This story is popular, despite only having 3 chapters to it done, and its easy to see why; the story has a good premise, with lots of room for potential. So why is it being canceled; simple, I can't bring myself to write it anymore. I open a word document, write a few thousand words, only to erase everything because it feels like shit, doesn't mesh well, or has a major logical fallacy. That and I had lost all of the work I had done to doing chapter 4 and I just can't.**

 **-A Reaping Rose: Again, this was a popular story, so why is this getting axe'd? Simple, I lost interest in writing it. That and Season 3 and 4 of Rwby, plus Elsword's additional content since I began writing, threw one hell of a wrench into my plans. So I might give it another go later, but right now, its dead.**

 **-A Rose's Endwar: Ah, this was a story that I had great plans for, was super hyped to write, but fell into the trap of being unable to make up my damn mind where to take the story. This in turn hurt the story overall, and my ability to write it. So this one is being led to Madam Guillotine.**

 **-Of Blood and Steel: Seriously, this story has so little going for it, and I've lost interest in Girls Und Panzer, so yeah, to the firing squad with this one.**

 **-Remnant Crisis: Damn, another story I really liked, had decently laid out, only to have the issue of hating everything I wrote when it came time to write for it. So not only am I not continuing this story, but it's getting eaten by a sexual Tyrannosaurs.**

 **So damn, I'm cancelling 4 of my stories (which will be taken down in a week's time), what will I be doing to make up for these loses? Well you see, I am going to create 4 new stories to replace these ones. One I have been planning for ages based on my favorite franchise, two based around stories I haven't done any fan-fic for yet, and one that I had planned on publishing around Halloween last year but didn't because I didn't have enough material for me to publish it quite yet. What are they, well, Im going to leave that as a surprise as 1) I need to set up my writing folder once more, and 2) they won't be published for awhile. Oh well.**

 **So expect me to return hopefully in full force to writing as with my part time job I can think about my stories in peace. In the mean time, please, read, review, follow, and favorite my stories, and I'll catch you guys next time.**

 **PS: Before I forget, if anyone wants to take over any of the stories I am cancelling, you have my complete blessing.**


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